Rebuild Or Replace ?

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

The following text is from my project thread and have just noticed I should have asked it here

 

 

 

 

My next job is to remove the engine which raises a few questions as to what my plans are, any comments would be well recieved

 

The current engine has done 121K and has had at least two head skims (that I know off) it is quite noisy on the top end but seemed very responsive.

 

 

I certainly am going to make it look good (degrease, strip and repray) replace/refurbish brackets etc etc...

 

Questions...

 

1. Can the current engine be reconditioned by a reasonably technically minded person? (never rebuilt engine before, but Haynes does seem to cover a lot of it))

2. Are there any special tools involved?

3.To fully recondition the engine what parts are needed and whats the cost?

4. Is it a better option to drop in an already reconditioned engine (I have found one at just over £1000)

5. Not massively interested in extra performance but If I was going to rebuild one would extra performance come at a large extra cost?

 

Sorry for so many questions

Edited October 9, 2013 by mrfirepro

[welshpug 1,661]

1, of course!

 

2, a few, what specifically depends on what you already have, how much you want to do yourself, and how much you want to let an engine machine shop sort for you.

 

3, depends what's worn out, but you're looking in the region of £350 to 400 of parts without replacing any major components like liners or pistons.

 

4, difficult to say how good a recon unit will be without seeing all the parts before assembly.

 

5, the increased compression from the head skims would not be an issue if its not excessive, you could put it together with a standard gasket and a vernier pulley using a mild camshaft upgrade.

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

thanks,

 

Having never done this I guess I'm fumbling a bit to ask the right questions.

 

If I was to rebuild and knowing it had done 121K (& had two head skims) is it fair to ask..

 

1. what would need replacing as a matter of course, not nice to have but essential as the engine is apart anyway

2. What would be good to replace if the budget allowed (Wanted max spend on engine of say £600)

3. What would always be reused providing they are in good nick and would it be visually obvious they were not in good nick

 

I think I would be able to do most things except for specialist machining/honing ????

 

or do you think I'm going about it in the wrong manner?

[Tom Fenton 1,542]

Until its stripped for inspection it is impossible to say what is needed. Crank bearings and piston rings should be changed as a matter of course. If the liners are not badly worn you may get away using them again which will save some money. The approach I would take is to strip inspect and then replace what is required.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

The cost of honing the liners with new one's these days it makes sense just to buy new one's, £600.00 thou with head work I would say is pushing it somewhat

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

good advice all ...thanks

 

I will be away next week, so probably won't get the engine out for a few weeks, will get it out, inspect and report back.

 

I plan to work through the Haynes manual which seems OK, is there anything I should know that they may not mention.

 

As usual I will photograph and bag everything.

 

I plan to buy a engine hoist and stand, I see a lot about measuring, what essential tools will I need to measure (already own feeler gauges)

[MikeC 10]

Bore deglazer, coil compressor, torque wrench, good set of torx bits, ring compressor, laping tool for valve seats.

A basic set of taps and dies at the right pitch.

A steel ruler is handy for checking the head for flatness, you may not need to skim the head.

Some of the gear is expensive. Seen machine mart have some nice kit.

[calvinhorse 870]

I'd look into why the headgasket has gone twice, all the work rebuilding to find the headgasket keeps going is gonna royally p155 you off!

[mrfirepro 127 1 Cars]

Looking through the receipts I can see that on 15/4/03 it had

 

Head gasket set

Piston Rings

Big End bearings

Head Skim

Valve shims

Valve seals

timing belt

 

This is off a some what suspicious receipt that is a hand written carbon copy type pad, it looks like the mileage was 99304, 121000 now

 

As for the second head skim, can find no paperwork on that.